Yemen peace talks tatters

The UN suspended talks between Yemen's warring parties yesterday after the Iran-backed Shia rebels and their allies appointed a council to run the country in a blow to the peace process.

In July, the rebels and forces allied to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh rejected a UN peace plan and announced the creation of a "supreme political council" to run Yemen.

At the time, UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed denounced the council as a "grave breach" of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 and a violation of commitments to the peace process.

More than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen since 2014, mostly civilians.